Dawn Butler MP wins DIVA award

DAWN BUTLER MP, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, has won the Ally of the Year Award at the annual DIVA awards, through her longstanding commitment to the LGBT+ community and for her work to advance the rights of LGBT+ communities.

Butler polled ahead of several candidates including comedian John Bishop and singer-songwriter Dua Lipa in a public vote.

The Ally of the Year is described by DIVA as being given “to someone who does not identify as LGBTQ, but who leverages their profile to promote causes which affect LGBT+ women”.

DIVA magazine, established in 1994, is one of Europe’s biggest selling magazine for lesbian and bi women and their allies.

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, was in attendance to present The Brent MP with the award and spoke about the great work Butler has done in her shadow cabinet role.

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, said: “I am incredibly honoured to have been voted Ally of the year at the 2018 DIVA Awards. I have always believed that equality is equality, you cannot pick and choose. This to me means that fighting for the rights of one group in society should not, and does not, take away from your own.

:In my role as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities I have been committed to advancing the rights of the LGBT+ community and will continue to be the best ally I can. This year marks thirty years since the cruel Section 28 was introduced which created a hostile environment for the LGBT+ community. We must speak up and continue to be vigilant to ensure this kind of hostility never happens again.

I am a proud ally and I will continue to encourage everyone to be an ally, to look for the people who are being left out and let them in.”

In her role as Shadow Secretary of State for Women & Equalities, Butler has demonstrated a strong commitment to the LGBT+ community.

She has worked with various LGBT+ organisations, including Stonewall, Pride, Black Pride, the British LGBT awards, the European diversity awards, GLAD—GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders and Labour’s affiliated socialist society, LGBT Labour to advance the rights of the community and ensure that their voice is represented in Parliament and all sections of society.

She is currently working with a range of stakeholders to advance Labour’s policies so that when in government, Labour will have the most progressive agenda to advance LGBT+ equality.

Read every story in our hardcopy newspaper for free by downloading the app.

Posted on: 11/06/2018 07:00 PM

Subscribe to The Voice database!

We'd like to keep in touch with you regarding our daily newsletter, Voice competitions, promotions and marketing material and to further increase our reach with The Voice readers.

If interested, please click the below button to complete the subscription form.